1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data management systems and, more particularly, to a system and method for managing and securing meta data.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Meta data is known as any data that relates to or describes some other data. Examples of meta data can include, but are not limited to, web page setting parameters (e.g., font, font size, background color, window size, etc.), user IDs and passwords, and values entered into the data fields of computer forms such as online order forms. Conventional Web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer offer limited meta data management features. For example, an “auto-complete” function offered by Microsoft Internet Explorer manages meta data such as Web addresses, passwords, and contact information that the user enters into the data fields of computer forms. Subsequently, when the user begins to enter a value into a particular data field of a computer form previously processed by the user's browser, the auto-complete function provides a drop-down list suggesting possible values for that data field. The user's selection of one of the suggested values triggers the browser to automatically fill in the data field with the selected value.
One popular feature of the auto-complete function is the “password-assist” feature for assisting the user in filling in passwords and user IDs. For instance, when the user enters a user ID and a password into the appropriate data fields of a computer form for the first time, the auto-complete function of the Web browser stores the user ID and password in association with the data fields identified by particular field names. The user ID and password are typically stored in an encrypted format in a local repository such as the memory of the user's PC. Then, each time the same data fields appear on the user's screen, the auto-complete function retrieves the corresponding user ID and password and decrypts them. Then the auto-complete function automatically fills in the data fields with the decrypted user ID and password. Typically, the password in the “password” field of the form is obfuscated by being displayed as a string of asterisks.
Although such conventional meta data management systems are intended to be beneficial, there are problems or limitations that are associated with the conventional systems. First, in conventional Web browsers, all web pages are displayed using the same web page settings regardless of time, website, user role indicating different roles of a user (e.g., an IBM employee, a private person, or a club representative), and other variables. But, one or more users of the computer may prefer different display settings depending on the website, user role, etc. For example, the user may prefer to always view a particular website in medium font size and dark background color on the user's computer, whereas the same user may prefer to view a different website in extra large font size and bright background color on the same computer. In the conventional systems, if the user desires to view a particular page in different display settings (e.g., with larger font size), then the user must manually change the display settings, at which time, all subsequent web pages will be displayed according to the newly set display settings. Thus, the conventional Web browsers require the user to manually change the web page settings at each desired instance. This can be tedious and time consuming to the user, and negatively affects the Web browsing experience of the user.
Another problem not addressed by conventional meta data management systems is that the conventional systems are not configured to recognize different meta data associated with different roles of a user. For instance, the user may function as an IBM employee, an association representative, or a private citizen (personal use) when ordering products online from a particular online vendor. Depending on the user role, the user utilizes different meta data such as different user ID/and password, mailing address, payment information, etc. However, regardless of the current user role, the conventional Web browsers always supply the last used meta data when filling out forms, which is often inappropriate for the current user role.
Another problem with conventional systems is that the conventional system does not recognize relationships between data fields of forms and pages so that the field values are often used out of context. For instance, an online order form may request a home address comprising four related data fields, namely, street name, city, state and zip code. Although these data fields are related, the conventional system stores values for each of these fields individually and does not store relational information on these fields. Thus, when the conventional Web browser provides a drop-down list identifying suggested values for a particular data field, the drop-down list often includes certain items that are completely irrelevant for the particular data field. Moreover, since the conventional Web browser is unable to recognize related data fields, a large number of items are often displayed in one drop-down list. As the number of items displayed in the drop-down list increases, it becomes more difficult for the user to view the list and find quickly the appropriate value from the list.
Another problem with the conventional systems is that the drop-down list is displayed for one data field at a time and triggered in response to the user's manual input of some value into the data field. This means that the user must type in the value to see the appropriate drop-down list and needs to repeat this process for each and every data field in the form. Thus, the conventional form filling process can be inconvenient and time consuming to the user.
Yet another problem with the conventional systems is the “password-assist” feature offered by the auto-complete function of the system. Although the “password-assist” feature provides some benefits to the user because the user does not need to remember multiple user IDs and passwords, this feature can have the unpleasant side effect of helping the user forget her user IDs and passwords since the browser automatically fills the user ID/password fields in most cases. Further, when a password requesting form has a field name which is different from the stored field name associated with the password, the auto-complete function fails to recognize this field and the user will need to manually enter the password into the field. Furthermore, when a password changing form includes a field for entering the old password, which often has a field name unrecognized by the browser, the auto-complete function will not supply the old password and the user will need to enter it manually. But, since the user is so used to the browser automatically filling in the passwords, the user typically fails to recall the appropriate password, which places the user in problematic situations.
In addition to the above-described problems associated with conventional meta data management systems, there are other needs that are unmet by the conventional systems. For example, it would be desirable to have some means by which a user can inspect, edit and/or organize stored meta data both online and offline. It would also be desirable to have some means to intelligently search for certain meta data from a pool of stored meta data, and to be able to select certain meta data for insertion into forms. It would also be desirable to enable a user to customize a number of different display settings for each different website, page, file, and/or user role and to provide some means that implements such display settings appropriately depending on the requested website, page, file and/or user role.